Is Homosexuality an Evolutionary Step Towards the Superorganism?

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	Is Homosexuality an Evolutionary Step Towards the Superorganism?

sylviadafox

1-29-2008 8:10 PM

818 views

6 Comments |

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1-30-2008 6:35 AM

AcesLucky

Nature is full of homosexuality from mammals to insects. There are over 450 known species that include it.

1-30-2008 12:23 PM

debbyski

I'm halfway there

1-30-2008 12:24 PM

debbyski

I'm all for EVOLUTION!

1-30-2008 6:09 PM

debbyski

I love superorgasms, whoops I mean superorganisms.

1-30-2008 7:22 PM

sylviadafox

I love superorgasms, whoops I mean superorganisms.

it'll be there: it is homosexuality

1-31-2008 11:55 AM

swampfoxz

Just think of the constant vibrations in that hive. Whoa!!

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/49a1c9b2-29e1-4593-8324-3ac7aacaa134/F8073547-7A2F-4B2A-9229-9B416CF608B0/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html" href="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html" style="font-size: 11px;">blog.wired.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/blog.wired.com/img/36EF218D-4979-4172-B252-CBB95C6191A7" alt="Bees" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html">
Only by conceiving of evolution as acting upon entire populations rather than individual organisms can we understand eusociality -- the mysterious, seemingly "altruistic" behaviors exhibited by insects who forego reproduction in order to care for a colony's young.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html"><A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusociality">eusociality</A>
has perplexed researchers unable to explain</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html">how entire insect castes could have
evolved not merely to refrain from reproducing, but to care for
genetically distant larva.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html">
So with all necessary caveats against reductionism and
misappropriation, we can ask: should human societies conceive of
themselves in terms of  group-level selection? Have we already
developed aspects of eusociality? And -- just to make matters really
interesting -- could non-reproducing humans, such as (most) gays and
lesbians, as well as heterosexuals who choose not to have kids,
actually be a manifestation of this emergent eusociality?</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/is-homosexualit.html">But at least it suggests that certain
unorthodox lifestyles might not be so "unnatural" after all.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F8073547-7A2F-4B2A-9229-9B416CF608B0/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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